aid I; "any child knows that."

"She didn't dream it at all," was his answer; "she said it out of
spite."

"Why should she be spiteful----?"

"You ask the man and his master. She's out for another car to win, and
will spoil my chances if she can."

"More fool you, then, to listen to her. Make up your mind to forget
it. You can do it if you try."

"Ah," he said, and upon my word I was sorry for him, "that girl's going
to be my ruin, Lal, as sure as we're on this car."

"You speak like a coward, Ferdy--didn't you say I brought you luck----"

"And you shall--I'll try to believe, Lal--I've thought it from the
start. If it wasn't for her----"

"Oh, be d----d to her," said I; and that I really meant.

We were on the starting line as these words were spoken, and in two
minutes we got the word to go, and the great Modena car rushed away
like some giant bird upon the wing. This was the crucial stage of that
famous race, when we had to climb the Arlberg Mountains and drop down
to Innsbruck. It was the day which saw Edge the proud winner of the
Gordon Bennett Cup, and the morning upon which Jarrott broke up his
bedroom furniture to stiffen the frame of his 70-h.p. Panhard. Our car
was not in for the Gordon Bennett, and our race did not finish at
Innsbruck, but at far Vienna--that is, if we crossed the terrible
Arlberg Mountains safely, and got down the other side with our heads
still upon our shoulders. This depended upon my friend Ferdinand, the
greatest driver that ever lived upon an ordinary day, but a mad devil
that morning if ever there was one.

Oh! you could see it from the start. That woman's words had entered
into his very soul, and he did not deny that he believed his hour had
come. We were early away, and the two big cars ahead of us we caught
almost in the first hour. When we came to the mountain we began to
climb as though a magic wind was lifting us. Grand as the scene was,
with the mighty mountains towering above us and the valley full of
wonders spreading out below, I had eyes for nothing but the winding
road, nor thoughts of any goal but that of distant Innsbruck, where the
danger would be passed. Sometimes I wished that Ferdinand would change
seats with me and let me drive. No woman that ever was born would
frighten me, I thought, and yet I could not be sure even about that.
The words that were spoken in the "control" went echoing in my head.
"We were going over the mountain-side." Good